Power-transmission belt



- A.O.RUTZ. POWER TRANSMISSION BELT. APPLICATION FILED 06117, I918 PatentedS pt. 5, 1922.

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mmuv- Q U L Rmm W// f I of the belt andjsecured and held together Para @FFHCE.

ARNOLD 0Q RUTZ, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCGNSI N, 'ASSIGNOR T0 MILWAUKEE'GAS SPE- CIALTY COMPANY, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A GORPQBATION- OF WISCONSIN.

POWER-TRANSMISSION BELT;

Application filed October 7, 1918. Serial No, 257,092. V

To (ZZZ w 7mm it may concern: V

Be it known that I. ARNOLD). BU'rZ, a citizen of the United States. residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin. have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Poweris a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. V r V 7 1 My inventionrelates to improvements in belts and has to do particularly with an improved power transmission belt. the body of which is made principally of leather or similar material. I I V i i This present invention is an improvementupon the beltzwhich forms the subjectmatter of my' copending application filed June 29th, 1918, Serial No,.24 0,987. In said v application I have described and claimed a power transmission belt'madeup of strips ofleather or the like arranged transversely by a pluralityo'f :coiled tension springs which extend longitudinally.through the belt-andhave their respective ends fastened together by various forms of devices which are frictionally engaged with the ends of the springs.

In the present lnvention I eliminate all I connections of the sort disclosedin said application and I form the springs themselves for engagementwith the transverse con{ necting rods or pins. 1

Among the several provement are as stated, therelimination of the more or less'expensive connectors, the

ease with which the belt can be connected at any point in its length, the narrow space the spring connector, thus making the belt substantially continuous, and the lowcost of the means for connecting theends of the,"

springs. i

To accomplish all of the above I simply form several of the contiguous end coils of each spring to stand at a right angle to the length of the belt, thus forming an eye or loop upon the end of the spring. I then) thread a rod: or pin through the several loops of the springs which project from the two ends of the belt, which I wish to join together, and secure this pin against removal: V I

necting pins or rods; and

1 To connect the several transverse as rawhide lacing or the like, and the act of cutting the ends ofthe pin used serves to spread out the pin at theends Wide enough to prevent its easy withdrawaltrom V the spring loops. i I

Transmission Belts, of which the following V This form ofbelt connecting device lends itself to thequick and easy production of a beltof 'any desired length as several pieces of beltVcan be quickly ioined togetherif necessary, or a single piece can readily be cut at any point and its ends quickly prepared for viewi odt a belt made in accordance with \my invention; V V

' Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of the tension springs showing themethodof connecting their ends, the belt strips being indicated in dotted lines; 7

Figure 3 is an enlargedplan view of one of the spring ends;, V

Figurea is a planview of one of the con- ,Figure 5 is ane-end viewof one of the springs, particularly disclosing the bent spring ends. I V

I preferablymake up my improved belt of a plurality of narrow strips 1 of leather or like material. In fact, practically I 7 make use of scrap pieces of belting leather V I inthe'manufacture of my belt. Each strip advantages of my im- 1. may consist of a single piece of a length equal to the width of the belt or oftwo or more pieces 2, arranged end. to end and extending across the belt. I sometimes purposely use strips made up of the shorter pieces c2, breaking joints on contiguous stripsl for the purpose of providing a belt which is best adapted to conform to crowned pulleys in an obvious manner. r V

V strips 1 into a belt, I prepare the, several strips by providingthem with a plurality of registering holes 3, spacing the holes evenly across the belt. Such holes form conduits through which I then pass or thread coiled springs 4E. The springs 4 extend through the belt from end to end and are of a size to thread readily through the holes 3,

- I form the springs 4: with their coils, 5 in definitely limited in contraction and adapted to be placed under tension immediately the coils begin to separate.

It should be understood that the springs themselves stand the pulling strain of power transmission, the strips, forming the belt contacting and wearing parts. I therefore proportion the number of springs, their diameter and the diameter of the wire of which they are made, to the pull to which the belt is subjected. In use the friction of the springs in the leather strips serves to distribute the strain longitudinally along the springs and prevents a destructive concentration of the strain.

Having formed my belt of strips 1 and springs 41, passed or threaded therethrough, I prepare the ends of the springs for joining the ends of the belt together by bending several coils, preferably three or four, at the end of each spring around to a position where their common axis lies substantially at a right angle to the axis of the body of the spring. In some instances one coil thus bent would be sufficient and in others possibly more than four coils would be preferable. These bent coils form a loop or eye 6 on the end of each spring, the loops or eyes being readily aligned across the end of the belt for the reception of a pin or rod 7 for joining the two ends of the belt together.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, I preferably arranged the loops 6 of the two ends of the belt right and left so that the springs 4t can be aligned without the loops 6 interfering with each other. I

As best disclosed in Figure 5, in forming the end of the spring to provide the connector loop 6 I preferably bend the distorted coil in a sharp bend as shown at 5' to bring the bent portion of the coil substantially to the center of the coil so that the end loops 6 of adjacent springs, when aligned, will lie in close contact with each. This form of the loop 6 prevents any bending of the connector 7 between the loops of aligned springs .4. and also prevents any lateral displacement of the end of the belt. In making an endless belt for use on a pair of pulleys I preferebly cut the springs 4 so that they are normally shorter than the belt and before joining their ends together stretch them out to the length of the belt so that they have a preliminary tension sub stantially sufficient to stand the normal belt strain without being unduly lengthened.

I preferably make the connecting rods or pins 7 of a diameter to just easily slide through the loops 6 and while they may be made of any material sufficiently strong to Wvithstand the shearing strain, I prefer to use leather such as rawhide lacing or the like. for the reason that such material is self 1ubr1cat1ng,the COllS imbedthemselves just sufficient to prevent any relative movement of the coils and connectors, and the ends 8 of the pins are readily spread out as shown to prevent the easy removal of the connector from its operative position. I fact the act of cutting the pin to the required length with ordinary cutting pliers serves to thus flatten or spread the ends of the connector.

The space 9 between the opposed ends of the belt is determined by the diameter of the loops 6 and hence is reduced to a practical minimum.

I usually prepare the belt in stock pieces which are as long as can be conveniently handled, the several springs having their end coils bent over as shown at 10 in Figure 1, which hold the strips 1 in place. hen a definite length of belt is required for use I cut from the stock piece the length desired. spreading the strips 1 at the proper place to permit the cutting of the springs i. I temporarily retain the ends of the springs 4 from being drawn back into the belt and form the loops 6 upon their ends, thus permanently preventing their withdrawal and preparing them for the connectors. If it is found in use that the belt stretches too much, the tension members can readily be placed under a greater initial tension by stretching them out and forming new loops on their ends.

As manv modifications of my invention will readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art I do not limit or confine my invention to the specific structures herein shown and described except withinthe spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A belt having coiled tension springs extending through the belt from end to end, and means for joining opposed ends of the belt together, comprising bent over coils on the ends of the springs and a connector of pliable material threaded through said bent over ends.

2. A belt having coil tension springs extending through the belt from end to end, the end coils of the springs at each end thereof bent over at right angles to form loops, and a rodlike connector threaded through said loops to connect the two ends f the belt together, the ends of the connector formed to prevent its easy removal from the coil.

3. A belt having adjacent ends to be connected, said adjacent ends being spaced apart, coiled springs carried by the belt and projecting oppositely from each of the adjacent ends of the belt into the space between said ends and a unitary connector arranged transversely in said space and co-opcrating directly with the opposite projecting ends of said coiled springs to connect the adjacent ends of the belt together,

4%. In a belt of the character described, a versely arranged connector extending plurality of transversely extending separate through and co-operating directly with the strips, a plurality of'coiled spring tension connector receiving loops at the opposed members extending longitudinally through ends of thecoiled spring tension members to 5 the belt, the end coils of said spring tension connect the ends of said spring tension 15 members being bent over to lie substantially members; 7 e

at right angles thereto to form connector In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe receiving loops the loops of opposed spring my name this 17th day'of September, A. D. ends being offset to permit the alignment of 1918.. e p i 10 the spring tension members, and a trans- ARNOLD O. RUTZ. 

